Debt Recovery

Our debt recovery solicitors – how we can help

Our specialist debt recovery solicitors focus on the recovery of clients’ money with prompt, escalating action to maximise the chances of successful recovery. The size of our team also gives us the capacity to deal with any defended cases.

Our leading team of debt collection experts is also recommended by the independently-researched publication, The Legal 500, as being one of the top teams of experts in the country.

Our debt collection services:

As a full-service law firm, we can deal with disputed debts, and offer a seamless service advising on credit information, retention of title, dealing with liquidators and receivers, liens, set off, and all related matters. We also advise on terms and conditions of business, intellectual property issues, and employment matters.

For details of our debt recovery costs and services, please click on the relevant drop-down option below.

• Pre-Court action debt recovery services and fees (including Statutory Demands)

  Our debt recovery service for pre-Court action includes the following:

  • Taking your instructions and reviewing documentation.
  • Sending correspondence to your debtor and dealing with any response(s).
  • Receiving payment and sending it on to you, or if the debt is not paid, advising you on the next steps.

  Our fees for this service are as follows:

  • On debts of £1,000 or less, we charge fixed fees of 10% of the gross sum recovered plus VAT.
  • We charge fixed fees of £100 plus VAT plus 7% (plus VAT) of the gross sum recovered insofar as the sum recovered is up to £25,000 plus an additional 3% (plus VAT) of any part of the sum recovered which exceeds £25,000.  By way of example:
    • A recovered debt of £10,000 would generate a fee of £800 plus VAT being (1) £100 plus VAT; plus £700 (7% of £10,000) plus VAT.
    • A recovered debt of £40,000 would generate a fee of £2,300 plus VAT being (1) £100 plus VAT; plus £1,750 (7% of the first £25,000) plus VAT; plus £450 (3% of the balance being £15,000) plus VAT.
  • If there is no recovery we do not charge a percentage recovery fee.

  Statutory Demands

  A Statutory Demand is a direct route to starting insolvency proceedings. Without a Court judgment, before you can serve a bankruptcy or winding up petition upon a debtor, you must serve a Statutory Demand for the outstanding debt. You can only use a Statutory Demand if the debt is in excess of £750, and is not disputed.

  If a debtor fails to pay within the time limit, then insolvency proceedings may be started without notice to the debtor. A Statutory Demand can be a very powerful collection tool, so it has to be used carefully as there are risks of penalties in costs if misused.

  Our fixed fee for this service, including service by post, is £75 plus VAT, whether there is a recovery of the debt or not. If personal service of demand is required, the expenses incurred will be charged in addition to this cost.

• Court action debt recovery service and fees

  If your debt cannot be collected through pre Court action correspondence and telephone calls, we may advise you that it is commercially viable to issue Court proceedings. If you decide to do so, then our team will sue the debtor for the original debt plus any interest or compensation you are due.

  Through Court action, we will continue to pursue your case and liaise and advise you throughout the process. We would most likely recommend that appropriate searches are carried out to check the credit rating of your debtor before you start Court action in all cases. Additional fees will be payable for these searches – but we will discuss them with you before they are incurred.

  Depending on the value of the debt, you will be charged a fixed fee of either £100 or £200 plus VAT in addition to the fee plus VAT permitted by the court rules. A more detailed breakdown of our costs can be found here:

  Debt	Court Fee	Recoverable Fixed Fee (excl VAT)	Our fee (excl VAT)	Total (excl VAT)
  Up to £300	£35.00	£50.00	£100.00	£185.00
  £301 – £500	£50.00	£50.00	£100.00	£200.00
  £501 – £1,000	£70.00	£70.00	£100.00	£240.00
  £1,001 – £1,500	£80.00	£80.00	£200.00	£360.00
  £1,501 – £2,000	£115.00	£80.00	£200.00	£395.00
  £2,001 – £3,000	£115.00	£80.00	£200.00	£395.00
  £3,001 – £5,000	£205.00	£80.00	£300.00	£585.00
  £5,001 – £10,000	£455.00	£100.00	£300.00	£855.00
  £10,001 – £200,000	5% of the value of the claim	£100.00	£300.00	£400.00 plus 5% of the claim value
  Exceeds £200,000	£10,000.00	£100.00	£300.00	£10,400.00

  Obtaining a Court judgment

  When obtaining a court judgment there is a fee payable to us of £75 plus VAT plus the recoverable fixed court fees plus VAT as outlined in the following table.

  Fixed costs on entry of judgment in a claim for the recovery of money, goods or services provided

  Where the amount of the judgment exceeds £25 but does not exceed £5,000	Where the amount of the judgment exceeds £5,000
  Where judgment in default of an acknowledgement of service is entered	£22.00	£30.00
  Where judgment in default of a defence is entered	£25.00	£35.00
  Where judgment is entered on an admission	£40.00	£55.00
  Where judgment is entered on an admission (or an admission of part of the claim) and the court decides the date or time of payment	£55.00	£70.00

  The court rules allow you to recover some of these sums from the debtor though the exact amount you can recover changes from time to time.

  Fees for additional services

  We will always confirm the fees for each case with you prior to taking action.

  The fixed fees include an element of our time in processing the application, as well as our payment to a third party supplier.  The fees below are intended as a guideline only as the expenses we pay may vary from case to case.

  Court fees may be payable in addition.

  Service	Guideline fee for our time plus VAT	Guideline expense	Overall fixed fee plus VAT
  Trace of person/business	£40	£55	Positive Trace – £95
  Additional administrative charge to appoint lawyer agents for recovery outside of England and Wales	£75	N/A	£75
  Consumer credit check	£23	£2	£25
  Land Registry search	£21	£3	£24
  Winding up petition search	£15	N/A	£15
  Bankruptcy search	£15	Free	£15
  Instalment monitoring	£15	N/A	£15 per instalment
  Bailiff’s warrant	£75	£91 – court fee	£249
  High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO)	£80	£78 – court fee (debts over £600 only)	£158
  Attachment of earnings	£175	£131 – court fee	£306
  Charging orders	£175	£174	£349
  Third-party debt order	£175	£131	£306
  UK lawyer agents	Chargeable by time	Various	N/A
  Questioning debtor about means	£100	£65– court fee	£165 plus costs to serve
  Certificate of money provisions	£80	£47	£127
  21-Day LBA warning of commencement of bankruptcy/winding up proceedings (Statutory Demand)	£125		£125 + costs for personal service

• Hourly fees for our debt recovery services

  In the event that the debt you are pursuing becomes disputed or, in instances where you may benefit from additional advice/services, your file may be referred to a member of our Dispute Resolution team.

  Matters will only be referred and fees will only be incurred in this way, having obtained your express instructions to do so. As we cannot always know in advance precisely what work is going to be involved, we will provide you with the best information possible about the likely cost at the beginning of the matter and at intervals while the matter proceeds.

  Our hourly rates are as follows:

  • Partner / Consultant – £365 plus VAT
  • Legal Director – £325 plus VAT
  • Senior Associate – £290 plus VAT
  • Associate – £235 plus VAT
  • Trainee Solicitor / Senior Paralegal – £200 plus VAT
  • Paralegal – £145 plus VAT

  The above fees cover all work done, including:

  • Time spent in meetings with you and others (including others from Nelsons).
  • Preparing documents.
  • Preparing advice.
  • Reading and preparing letters, emails and faxes.
  • Telephone calls made and received.
  • Any other activity necessary to progress your matter.

  Sometimes we may increase the rates outlined above – we will notify you of the changes prior to them taking effect.

  The hourly rate is specific to the work you have asked us to undertake and may reflect the value of the property or assets involved, unusual complexity, levels of responsibility, an exceptional value of our work to you, working unsociable hours or unusual speed applied to your matter.